Fighting dropped sharply across eastern Ukraine yesterday but there was still sporadic shooting after a ceasefire came into force, the first step in a fragile peace plan aimed at ending 10 months of conflict.

Iran's Supreme Leader has reportedly sent a secret letter to the US president in response to a possible thaw in relations between the two countries.

US President Barack Obama on Friday condemned the "brutal and outrageous" execution-style murders of three Muslim students in North Carolina at the hands of a neighbor who espoused anti-religious views.

Argentine prosecutors formally accused President Cristina Kirchner Friday of shielding Iranian officials from prosecution over a 1994 Jewish center bombing, renewing the firestorm around the embattled leader.

At least 100 whales have died out of the 200 that are washed up on a beach in New Zealand.

Britain's food supply network is facing a scandal even more serious than the horsemeat crisis, a leading expert has warned, after the Government's new food crime unit launched an investigation into the undeclared use of nuts that are potentially life-threatening to allergy sufferers.

Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan appealed for more US help in fighting Boko Haram, as the Islamists struck again yesterday and called for a boycott of upcoming general elections.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says his government had blocked what he called a US-backed coup plot that included plans to attack the presidential palace with a military jet.

Ferocious fighting raged in Ukraine yesterday, threatening a ceasefire deal as Kiev and the US accused Russia of fuelling a rebel onslaught to grab territory hours before the truce began.

Negotiators in Geneva are geared to adopt a climate blueprint Friday, a symbolic milestone in the fraught UN process that must culminate in a universal pact in Paris in December.

Any resolution to the fighting in Syria must involve President Bashar al-Assad, the United Nations envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura said yesterday in the first such acknowledgement by the UN.

Ashton Carter, a hard-charging intellectual known for blunt talk, was confirmed as US defense secretary Thursday, and he could soon find himself at odds with a White House that clashed with previous Pentagon chiefs.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appealed to the Security Council for action to halt Yemen's slide toward anarchy, warning the country was "collapsing before our eyes", as more countries evacuated their staff from the crisis-hit country.

An expert at the internationally respected US think-tank has labelled Tony Abbott the most “incompetent leader in any industrialised democracy,” as the Australian Prime Minister provoked criticism over his latest remarks.

Isis militants seized control of parts of the western Iraqi town of al-Baghdadi, close to an air base where 320 US Marines are training Iraqi soldiers.

Heavy fighting between Myanmar's army and rebels has killed 47 soldiers, state media said yesterday, sending a flood of people across the border with China and overshadowing hopes for a national ceasefire as a crucial election looms.

Nigeria-based Boko Haram Islamists yesterday carried out their first attack inside Chad, killing five people in an early morning strike on a village and military camp on the shores of Lake Chad, a security source told AFP.

At least 18 people have been killed in eastern Ukraine in new artillery shelling just a day after a peace deal was signed to end the 10-month conflict.

3 killed, nearly 100 injured as Ernakulam-bound train from India’s Bengaluru topples near Belagondapalli village

Fans of Indian President Narendra Modi yesterday scrapped plans to open a temple in his honour after the Indian premier said he was "appalled" by the idea.